Getting closer. Amazing little project like this take so much time and effort. I decided to only bore one hole for the A/F gauge for now. The gauge pod tips into the two tiny slots I cut into the console ABS plastic. The top will be secured with an aluminum sheet metal brace that screw into the existing hole.







I made a dimple for the center of the other unbored hole


Next challenge is to route the reverse lockout cable to ensure it has adequate bending radius, which it competes for space with the gauge pod as well as the cigarette lighter. It is a battle of the bulges - a battle to gain millimeters here and there.


here is the sight line to the gauge from passenger side


One thing I wanted to do was to fold the vertical edges but I don't have a sheet metal folding brake. I would buy one in a heartbeat if I have a place to store it.

 

double post

 

The mundane tasks of design and fabricating my JCW (Just Copy Werk ®) twin gauge pod is done. I even hooked up the reverse lockout cable despite knowing the console still have to be in and out a number of times before all I planned to fit are accomplished. I have been driving Desire without the reverse lockout cable. It is a drag, not because that I need to have the lockout functional.

Without the lockout installed, there are no lateral stops for the forward gears so the bottom of the shifter shaft hits the cable cassette when I tried to get to 5th by rowing too far to the right. I figured out a way to install the cable and yet able to remove the console without having to remove the lockout cable. It is just a temporary solution until I am sure every I want to installed are fitted the final time.

the lockout cable inevitably have to come out from the driver side "cup holder" to have a adequate bending radius


I look into the price of fancy carbon fiber cloth. They are about $44 a yard by 50 inches wide. Not bad if you want to do a few other projects too. I think the 45% carbon with 55% Aramid will look cool and might just save my life from a bullet. These are the real things instead of the sticky cosmetic vinyl sheets.

 

The reason I didn't bore out 2 mounting holes for 52mm gauges is I want to leave the option open for a custom home brew multi-function gauge of sort, or may be a compact data logger consists of a mini display and a joystick for UI. All can be done but only limited by the amount of time and effort one is willing to invest. More important, a justifiable purpose. I never care for creating a solution that is in search for a problem.

the most challenging with custom homemade electronics project is the packaging; 3D printer is one great tool only if I want another hobby

 

I took this short video just for gaggle. I expected the audio to be totally crap thinking the iPhone microphone input will be severely clipped, but it is actually not too bad. The motor is running during a drive to wiggle Mini's new and improved joystick. The volume was set to 20 or so. Even with the Milltek resonatorless catback the noise floor subtracts very little from the enjoyment of the sound system.

 

Two nights in a row for eating out is most out of character of me. The spring weather left no excuse not to go wiggle Mini's new joystick. It has now grew so much on me that I cannot go back to the stock shifter. Once I stop thinking about it and just let the right hand be the judge, I can say without reservation it is one nice enhancement to the overall Mini driving experience. It is no less than the reduction pulley, suspension updates, and light weight wheels and R compound tires. The best part of all these is, despite Desire's crazy youthful emotions, he is very civilize for everyday in town trips, with little reduction of civility.

I went back to this hole in the wall Mexican restaurant mainly wanting to take the Mini out for a drive when the traffic thins. This time the owner of the Z7 Corvette is not there. I got his VIP parking.

Desire has the VIP parking


Javier and his Z7 Vette was not there that night - slacker!




I like this photo - a bit of Nighthawks with a Hispanic touch



The man who took my order turned out to be the Corvette owner's father. When I chatted with him, he mentioned his son told him about me. I felt like a VIP.



The customers here is 99% Hispanic, so you know it should be authentic. This time I order a burrito with cow head. I had pork last time and that was very good.

my VIP parking looking from inside of the restaurant - little chance of a door ding





the meat of the cow head tasted very similar to ox tail; only the amount is not as generous as the pork I had the previous night which was more tasty


A couple of notable vehicles that night's trip were a Yamaha 350 motorcycle (pre RD350), and a Honda Civic Type R.

 

Holy crap dude!

Diggin' the freejazz in the viddie as it's my favorite themesong!

The clip sounds like Eric Dolphy or similar,
who's blowin' the horn?

PS
need to catch up on this thread with various commentary and such stuff, like I had intended to take a picture of my favorite hammer after seeing you post the pic of your hammer, and I will do so this week because I have a bit of freetime,
my most-loved hammer is an old Thor,
like this:


Love this thread my good man!
Excellent work and keep the goodstuff comin'!
Cheers.

 

Holy crap again!

For some reason the Nighthawks reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks

...brought to mind a certain track by Tom Waits,
one of my faves for casual driving...

 

It is Joshua Redman on Sax. Live at the Village Vanguard.

That Thor'd done a lot of work in its long life. A 2 pounder? For me the most memorable tool was a well used German pair of blunt nose pliers when I was a boy.

Love that track by Tom Waits. A gem.

 

Nice, he's got a good sound, need to check his stuff out --- I'm a huge fan of his father Dewey and have several of his solo albums plus many others where he was in a group.

 

As usual great work and congrats on hall of fame.
Ben

 

You are too kind.

Working on the Mini gives me pleasure, especially the small things that make progress. Since I installed the Koni Yellow 10 months ago I had put off dealing with the exposed strut support bearing of the IE fixed camber plates. Because the rebound damping adjuster of the Koni's the plastic stock caps cannot be replaced. Some owners cut down the adjuster tab a little and that allow the "dust" cap to be reinstalled. I had meant to do the same but have been undecided if I want to cut down the adjusters. Also I would prefer to remove the struts to cut them down so not to end up with some steel shavings in there.


exposed bearing in the IE fixed camber plate


As a temporary solution after installing the IE plates and Koni's last year, I made these dust covers out of shipping foam, but the problem is sizable grits still get in there due to the ribs of the strut tower top. I found many sand particles that are 2-3 mm sizes gather around the rubber. Time to do something not so temporary.

my early stopgap cheap and easy dust cover made of shipping foam


I decided to do an modified interim fix - to drill a small hole onto the plastic dust caps. This will buy me some time by minimizing the chance of grits getting into the bearings. After checking the price of the dust caps I decided the best interim solution is to drill a hole just big enough for the Koni adjusters.

with the small hole, small particles can still get to the bearing but the odds of that happen is significantly reduced


I took care to make sure the hole is not too small to possibly turn the adjusters




the stock plastic cap reinstalled


I then reused these foam dust covers I made but this time I pushed them right into the cavity; this way they rest tightly against the Koni adjusters and forms a secondary barrier; I feel pretty comfortable with this interim solution


a trip across town putting up with the cheeky mini ; to keep Desire in line I threatened to leave him in the glue factory next door

 

I am not one that likes to oversell things that I purchase. I like to give a balanced view of them for better or worst. On the whole I am quite pleased with the CoolerWorx shifter. It is every bit that I expected, starting when I was only mildly excited with the CAE. Since my initial installation I have only put on may be a tankful of driving. They are mostly in town with 20% highway driving so there were good amount of running through the gears to provide good initial assessment.

and I am now pleased with the standard issued understated black shift ****


I found this old photo showing the weights for the shifter's fore/aft throws at the gearbox; with the new joystick you feel the weight more when snap into gear




Transiting from the rather vague stock shifter to the CoolerWorx with stronger centering spring took some getting used to. I first found the centering spring (center at 3rd and 4th gear) to be too strong. After a few trips I had gotten used to it and now no longer conscious of it, except when entering into reverse. With the already strong spring force to pull left into the reverse the additional centering spring of the CoolerWorx makes one very conscious that it is a deliberate effort to get into reverse, and that you have to pull up the reverse lockout as well. There is definite no chance you will shift into reverse by mistake.

I can say now that with everyday on the road use the shifter brings the already very fun Mini to another level. A fitting analogy is to think the Mini starting with a skinny 18 inch steering wheel in a beige car like Toyota Camry and you change it to a R53.2 three spoke steering wheel. At time during spirited driving my right hand feels like that of Ken Block's. The solid aluminum shift **** with its machined knurling feels really good in the bare hand (except in frigid freezing weather) - plenty of traction to the palm. There is this pleasure when you shift into a gear you feel the metal to metal contact of a well engineered machinery, instead of the lame plastic insular feel. The shift throw displacements are quite spot on, including the lateral distances. I cannot return back to the stock shifter. What remains is to find out how it feel and perform on the track very soon. That would be the proof of the pudding.

In my imagination, what may be more fun would be a dog box conversion, followed by a sequential gearbox on track. You would not want either in a street car though and I must keep them from Desire. And if you like posing, you should get a CAE or CoolerWorx as most folks will ask if that is a sequential transmission in your Mini.

 

Great info here --- again, thanks for taking the time to be so comprehensive with detailed report/analysis and plus always including fine imagery.

You are an invaluable asset to this site, and in my view, a trusted source to determine what's what because the waters can be tricky due to the large variety and options of available aftermarket parts/companies --- it is somewhat overwhelming and requires research to weed through the trash to find the treasure.

I see a Coolerworx in my future for sure, but for the time being I'm just going to get to know the car and feel it out. To me so far, the stock shifter feels vague and somewhat rubbery and it's been an odd transition acclimating to its feel, I've already mis-shifted several times and it makes me feel like a total noob.

 

more gifts for Mini

 

Where did you source the ss brake lines?

 

Front are Wilwood. Rear are ECS for Mini. Both bought from ECS.

 

I am very slow. When it comes to the front brakes, and new ones at that, one cannot afford to rush. A small oversight can lead to crash and burn.

a teaser for now; even tidied up the brake pad wear sensor least it wrap around the axle

 

Looks good and its ok to take your time. I would just admire the wilwoods

 

I postponed the installation of the Wilwood from last summer until now as I wanted to experience each step of brake upgrade from all stock, to more aggressive pads, to the Wilwood. I also didn't want the good brakes to go to waste. A few HPDE sessions took care of that.

This season's HPDE days are coming up fast and furious. I left myself very little time to install the Wilwood brakes. With projects like this there can be unanticipated surprises and it would be a real drag if after installing the new brakes then realized some is wrong and having to revert back to the stock brakes.

Wilwood BBK assembly diagram and parts list


wrong way to compress the caliper piston; it has been so long that I forgot



a pair of Channellock make it really easy for these floating calipers


the dust shield comes off as it is no longer compatible with the bigger disc diameter of the Wilwood as well as the calipers; they might be useful one day to make a homemade brake cooling duct


seemingly a simple brake swap ended up requiring a lot of tools




the two main bolts fasten the caliper mounting bracket; I first use 3 pieces of 0.016" shims but it turns out 2 pieces after checking the centering of the caliper WRT the disc






just snug tight for now


next is to place the disc onto the hub and held by one countersink Torx bolt


this view scared me for a moment but the protruding ends of the main bolts are actually in the recess of the hub


here shows the part pieces for the caliper studs; I use 3 pieces of 0.016" spacers which is perfect


this strange looking nut got me really worry; I first tried Torx socket and realize it need twice number of points; I would realize it just need a 7/16" 12-point socket


the Wilwood braided brake lines does not have the rubber grommet made into the line so it is a sloppy fit since it has to slip over the fitting at the end


the hydraulic fluid port of the Wilwood caliper requires a 90-degree elbow






the smaller grommet does not fit into the bracket the factory brake uses; fortunately the Koni damper provisioned a smaller slot for it





these nuts and washers are for securing the caliper to the caliper bracket




the brake pads has not been fitted yet


The Wilwood braided lines where it mate to the Mini's hard lines gave me the most fit. It does not fit into the bracket as the hole of the bracket is slotted to prevent the line from rotate as you tighten the compressing fitting. I have to slightly round out the slotted hole of the bracket, which is quite hard in the confine space and dripping brake fluid. It is also very hard to tell how the slide in retainer work. After a lot of cussing and file and grind to fit I figured out it need to be slide in this way as in the photo below. A Channel Lock pliers make it easy.





Next is to address now defunct brake pad wear sensor. If I simply remove it, the brake wear indicator will illuminate. I decide to just tie it neatly away onto the bracket of the Koni damper.

the brake pad wear sensor tidied up and tugged away from harm


the outer CV boot is in good shape; and Koni has crappy paint


instead of leaving the 4 brake dust shield bolt holes expose to the elements I decided to replace the 4 Torx bolts to protect the threads from corrosion


the brake pads are semi-metallic


As I test fitted the brake pads I realized the calipers are not center WRT the disc rotor; it was a pain to subtract one 0.016" shim from the two main bolts holding the caliper bracket to the steering knuckle at this point. That a time consuming step I could have avoided have I found my feeler gauge earlier.

installing the anti-squeal shims onto the brake pads


the caliper is now center WRT the rotor when using only two shims


Next I check what it take to install the ECS braided brake lines for the rear brakes, since I will be flushing the brake fluid.

the ECS braided brake lines appears= to be nicer than the Wilwood; it has made in the line grommet that are correct size like the stock line, and slotted end fitting where it mates to the hard line; it is also cheaper than the Wilwood ones


here is where the hard line connects to the stock rubber line


this is the other end of the brake line connecting to the caliper





the right side has the brake pad wear sensor so is more congested


I decided to postpone installing the braided brake line for the rear brakes, in case the Wilwood front brake turns out to be too much for the rear brakes and I have to increase the rear brake rotors.

Triple checking all the fasteners of the new brakes are properly torqued, including the brake lines the last step is to bleed the brakes. I broke out the brand new Schwaben pressure bleeder.

shopping for a brake pressure bleeder, there were two contenders - Motive and Schwaben; for me Schwaben is the clear winner in all respects including appearance


I also found a bottle to capture the waste brake fluid. I chose this for the narrow opening which will keep the hose end at the bottom; the snap on cap is also a bonus


I had to work between many periodic rain periods and it suck when you work with brake fluid


I actually had buyer's remorse after buying the pressure bleeder. This is because brake fluid is hygroscopic. With expensive racing fluid the last thing you want to do is pour a big quantity of fluid into the pressure bleeder and expose the unused fluid to air in storage. I also would realize the use of a pressure bleeder can make a big mess with unintended fluid spillage.

I then realize I can use it differently than intended. I would use it without putting brake fluid into the bleeder but just use it to pressure the brake fluid reservoir. To this the Schwaben shines over the competitions.




it has a quick disconnect fitting that is valved; it also has a pressure release


I switched to the plastic as for some reason the billet aluminum one has a small leak - I didn't want to apply too much torque to the cap so I switched to the plastic cap


The Schwaben bleeder design features make it really easy to bleed the brakes without putting the fluid into the bleeder. It is quite easy to remove the cap and check the reservoir level and resume.





I only pressurize to 10 PSI


I will continue to pressure bleed brakes this way. There is no mess to clean up, and I don't risk exploding brake fluid should the fluid reservoir pops off from pressure (it happens a lot). You also don't expose to expensive racing fluid to air by decanting it in and out of containers.

this is all the waste fluid


I had a major scare just when I refitting the wheels after satisfied the brakes are all properly installed and bled. After installing 2 wheel bolts just hand snug, I turned the wheel to make sure for one last time there is no interference. Clunk! WTF? I was sure last summer I did a very thorough job of clearance check and the SSR wheel has plenty of clearance. I look for wheel balance weight and there is none that come close to the calipers. Then I realized it is the home made wheel hangers that I screwed in deep and one hits the two main bolts for the caliper bracket. It would be a disaster to only find interference after all this work, and having to revert back to the stock brakes.

Next I went for a drive to perform brake check, and first step of bedding in the brake pads.

the plain rotor and black calipers suit my monochromatic mini and not calling attention


the surface rust of the rotor face from the rain is nicely polished away with just a short drive

 

You know what? I had never bother to read the instruction of how to use the Schwaben. Just now I thought may be what I thought my think-out-of-the-box self-determination method is how the product is designed to be used. I had cold sweat thinking ...

To my relief you are supposed to fill it with brake fluid and have the pressure bleeder supply a continuous stream of fluid as you bleed the caliper, or the drum brake cylinder. I would do it this way if I run a auto service shop. Not that I am a weekend warrior. My Vanagon Westfalia's brake reservoir is inside the instrument cluster, and the last thing I want is to spill brake fluid everywhere.

this is how you are supposed to use it; note the fluid in the hose (image credit from here)

 

Thanks for this, I was just about to order a CAE when this was mentioned to me, this will definitely be my choice, I just hope it gets here before MOTD.

 

Gah, the Wilwood kit looks great!

Also side question, are you heading to CravenSpeed this Saturday for the meet up?

 

Nicely done!
I read a lot of your thread here and have to say that your care and attention to details is impressive.

You will like the Wilwoods on the track.

Have you picked the pad you will use on the track? And what about for the rear?

 

If you order from the US seller, it takes about 3 weeks as he does not stock them, despite he told me on the phone he does. He must order from Eastern Europe on demand, and transship to you.